What city became the capital of the middle Kingdom in egypt?

Answer 1

In 3150 BC, Menes (King Narmer) united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and established Memphis as the capital of the kingdom. This was during the so-called "Old Kingdom". During the so-called "Middle Kingdom" the capital was moved from Memphis to Thebes (especially the 18th Dynasty).

The capital changed depending on which Pharaonic family was ruling, and on the extent to which Upper, Lower or Middle Egypt were united with one another. Thebes and Memphis were capitals of Upper (South) and Lower (North) Egypt respectively.

According to revised chronology, Memphis was not founded until circa 2200 BC at the earliest. Menes was the founder as far as we can tell. The proper Egyptian name should be "Memphit". The 's' ending comes from the Greeks' reading of the hieroglyphs (e.g., by Herodotus and perhaps Alexander's historians). Early 19th century Egyptologists tended to read the hieroglyphs in wrong or different sequences. So we are stuck with Memphis/t today. To avoid unnecessary confusion, there is a convention to leave names uncorrected when change is really necessary in the light of new or better information. Actually, "Memphit" should read "Phit-mem". This is the "Pithom" that Exodus 1:11 records. This is a sort of '9/11' for 21st century Egyptologists because it reveals that the ancient Israelites helped build the city. That would have been circa 1500 BC. It's likely an older city was expanded and modernised in 1500 BC. However, in 600 BC, when the Ramessides were actually ruling Egypt, and Memphis-Memphit-Pithom once again became the nation's capital, the city was re-developed once again, but for the last time. This time, ancient Egyptians of the 7th century BC called Memphis-Pithom the "City of Ramesses". Earlier, from circa 800 BC, foreigners such as Ethiopians, Libyans (Carthaginians), Assyrians, Chaldeans (Kurds) and Persians had control of the city apart from about 680 to 550 BC when the Ramessides, probably as vassals to the Assyrians and Chaldeans, held the city.

The meaning of "Memphit" or "Pithom" is "The Place (pi) of the "T-H-M". The "T-H-M" is another inaccurate arrangement of the hieroglyphs. Actually it represents the phrase "em-Hat" or "chosen (appointed) leader". One of the kings of the reconstruction era (actually 12th dynasty), when the Israelites provided bricks for the building programme, was Amen-em-hat or The leader chosen by Amen ('God'). Amenemhat III, who ruled for 43 years if the king lists are accurate on this, presided over most of the 16th century BC building programme. His successor, Amenemhat IV was probably the pharaoh whose army got destroyed at the Red Sea.

Answer 2

Thebes became the capital of the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC).

Answer 3

Phiana.

Answer 4

Memphis